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Veil of darkness

So I was ready to start talking a little about the reef-controller I've been working on for the last 9 months or so, and I sought some clarification from RC admins about whether I ought to post about it online.

Turns out that since there's a (small) possibility I might want to make this commercially available, the answer was "Don't do it", unless I'm certain I'm going to release it for free. Yeah, I know, there's a million-and-one reef controllers out there, where's the room for another... and you know what, that's probably right. Still, I think I have something a little bit special, so the dirty little thought keeps rattling around at the back of my mind... Maybe... Just maybe...

If the options are to go commercial, or to release it for free, One thing I have thought about is "both". I could release on a non-commercial open license, so DIY'ers and cheapskates [grin] could get it, and then I could do some build-at-home stuff for those who can't or don't want to get their hands dirty, or just want a finished product. Another option would be to take advantage of bulk pricing and offer kits to people. On a small-enough scale, I doubt my employer would care, and it might provide a small amount of income now that my wife's stopped working, with the option to grow it later if need-be.

If even that isn't a good option, I wouldn't want all this work to go to waste, so I'd open it completely... However, most of the open-source things I've seen work well have been ones where (a) there's a centralised lead, not just a group-of-people-working-on-stuff, and (b) where it starts off with a good fraction of the job done. It's easier to motivate people when the end is "in sight", so I'd have to see how I'd want to work that all out.

Anyway, this post is just a statement as to why there'll be no more details given out about the controller, perhaps apart from general progress - come on! When *your* pet project reaches a milestone, don't *you* want to tell someone it's got there ?